10 benefits to omnichannel order management

If you’re a business owner searching for advice online, you have likely come across this term — leverage.

Leverage is all about your business getting exposure across different sales channels and platforms. If you’ve ever read about building a successful brand experience, leverage will have been thrown around in that article. But, if the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, leveraging your sales will be an uphill battle.

We’re here to tell you that you can diversify your sales channels while maintaining cohesion between them.

Introducing omnichannel order management.

What is omnichannel order management?

Omnichannel order management is a modern solution for managing inventory and orders by seamlessly integrating all of your sales channels.

It allows you to provide a consistent, convenient experience for your customers no matter how they choose to shop. With an omnichannel system in place, you can easily keep track of inventory levels and ensure that omnichannel fulfillment is done promptly and correctly, even if a customer engages with multiple channels. This can help improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as boost your bottom line.

If you’re considering implementing a comprehensive and centralized sales strategy for your business, an omnichannel solution may be right for you.

How does omnichannel order management work?

Implementing an omnichannel order management system requires a single view of customers, their order history, and inventory levels across all channels. Omnichannel order management allows sellers to manage customer orders across all sales channels.

This means sales channels such as:

• Website
• Shopping app
• Social media
• Email
• Mobile
• Call center
• Brick-and-mortar shops

A centralized view of all sales channels, orders, and customers helps ensure that buyers always get the products they want, when and where they want them. Omnichannel retailer order management can be a challenge, but it’s essential for providing the best possible shopping experience. With the right omnichannel strategy in place, businesses can provide their customers with convenience and a buyer-centric experience.

Benefits of omnichannel order management

Consumer expectations show that they want a seamless experience regardless of how they choose to shop along their buying journey.

This has created challenges for businesses and omnichannel retailers alike, who must manage inventory and orders across all channels. Adopting an omnichannel order management system will improve your reputation with customers. Additionally, omnichannel order management can help you improve operational efficiency and reduce costs.

Here are 10 key benefits of omnichannel order management for your business.

1. Improved customer experience

Omnichannel order management can help businesses provide a seamless shopping experience for their customers by managing orders and inventory across all sales channels.

There are many reasons why improved customer experience is important. Satisfied customers are more likely to buy from a company again and recommend it to others. Good customer service can also result in lower acquisition costs, as happy customers are less likely to take their business elsewhere.

Finally, improved customer experience can simply make your customers feel good — and that’s always worth striving for.

2. Optimized operational efficiency

Omnichannel order management can help businesses improve operational efficiency by reducing the need to reconcile inventory and orders across multiple channels manually.

Operational efficiency is important for any business because it directly impacts the bottom line. Streamlining operations and reducing waste helps companies save money and increase profits while decreasing the amount of manual work needed in daily tasks. In addition, improved operational efficiency can help a company compete more effectively in the marketplace by reducing costs and increasing productivity.

Ultimately, operational efficiency is essential for any business that wants to succeed.

3. Reduced costs

Firstly, if you want to enter a new market, you don’t have to open a new store at a location — creating a website and selling from your current premises gives you the freedom to work from the comfort of your own home.

Then comes the less tangible forms of reduced costs. By implementing an omnichannel selling strategy, you will eliminate middlemen or third-party services and keep everything in-house. The other savings come with improving customer retention and having all your customers’ data centralized.

4. Increased sales

By providing a better customer experience and improving operational efficiency, omnichannel order management can help businesses increase their sales.

Sales are the lifeblood of any business. Without sales, a business simply cannot survive. This is why increasing sales numbers is so important to businesses of all sizes.

First and foremost, more sales mean improved revenue.

This is vital for any business, as it allows them to reinvest in the company, expand operations, and hire new staff. Increased sales can also lead to improved brand experience recognition and awareness. When customers see that a business is selling more products or services, they are likely to view it more favorably and also recommend it to others.

Ultimately, increased sales represent growth, and that’s essential for any business that wants to succeed in the long term.

By increasing their sales, businesses can ensure their continued success and longevity, and there are a number of ways to do that.

1. Create a strong marketing strategy for your business — This will ensure that potential customers are aware of your brand and know what makes your goods and services unique
2. Focus on providing excellent customer service — When customers have a positive experience with your business, they are much more likely to return in the future and recommend you to others
3. Always look for new ways to reach potential customers — Keep looking and investing in more sales channels to reach a wider audience

Whether it’s through online marketing or traditional methods like print ads or word-of-mouth, make sure you’re doing everything you can to get your business in front of as many people as possible.

5. Improved customer retention

By providing a better customer experience, omnichannel order management can help businesses improve customer retention.

When buyers stick around, they tend to spend more money over time. In addition, satisfied customers are also more likely to refer others to your business, which can help you attract new buyers. Happy customers also tend to be more loyal and less likely to switch to a competitor.

There are many ways to improve customer retention.

1. Providing exceptional service — People will remember their encounter with your business, and if it was a good one, they’ll be sure to recommend their friends to use your services as well. On the other hand, a negative experience will also be talked about, so try to avoid those
2. Offering competitive pricing — Most buyers are guided by their wallets, and customer-friendly prices will make buyers more inclined to return to you for their shopping
3. Regularly communicating with clients — Make sure that your customers don’t forget about you and stay connected to your brand. This can be achieved by sending out regular newsletters, asking for feedback on their purchase, or offering discounts to returning customers

By taking well-planned steps to improve customer retention, you can boost your bottom line and build a stronger, more loyal customer base.

6. Improved supply chain management

Omnichannel order management can help businesses improve supply chain management by providing visibility into inventory and orders across all channels.

Supply chain management (SCM) is critical to businesses today. An efficient and effective SCM system can help organizations improve their overall performance and competitiveness.

By utilizing an omnichannel solution in your supply chain, you can handle the management of materials, supplies, and goods for all your locations and sales channels. This allows you to plan ahead for restocking across your warehouses, giving you the flexibility and transparency needed to stay ahead of possible delays or supply chain disruptions.

Many software solutions are advanced enough to work with your strategies, automate operations, and do it all while promoting a sustainable supply chain.

7. Increased visibility

An omnichannel order management strategy can help sellers make better decisions about safety stock levels and promotions by providing visibility into inventory and orders across all channels.

When businesses use multiple channels to sell their products or services, they are more likely to be seen by potential customers. By being presented on various platforms, companies can increase their chances of being found by customers looking for what they have to offer. Each sales channel tends to have its own target audience, and limiting your operations to just one also limits your visibility to potential customers.

However, the more sales channels you have, the more complex your inventory and order management will become, which is why an omnichannel solution is essential to simplifying daily operations.

8. Improved data quality

By providing visibility into inventory and orders across all channels, omnichannel order management can help businesses improve data quality. This improved data quality can lead to better decision-making about stock levels and promotions.

There are several reasons why improved data quality is important.

• Accurate and reliable data is essential for making good business decisions
• High-quality data can help organizations improve their operational efficiency and performance
• Good data can help companies develop more effective marketing strategies and target their advertising efforts better

Ultimately, improving data quality can benefit businesses of all sizes.

9. Reduced risk

An omnichannel order management strategy can help businesses reduce risks by improving data quality and real-time inventory visibility.

One of the biggest risks associated with selling online is the potential for fraud. By using an omnichannel approach, businesses can mitigate this risk by having multiple contact points with their customers. This way, if there is any suspicious activity, it can be quickly identified and addressed.

Another risk associated with selling online is the possibility of losing customer data.

When customers purchase products or services online, they typically input their personal information, such as their name, address, and credit card number. If this information is not properly secured, it could be accessed by unauthorized individuals. However, if businesses use an omnichannel approach, they can store inventory data in multiple locations, making it more difficult to steal or lose.

10. Better decision making

A key omnichannel order management benefit is improved data quality and visibility, which helps businesses make better decisions about stock levels and promotions.

Decision-making is an important part of any business, and the ability to make better decisions can mean the difference between success and failure. Several factors go into making a good decision, and understanding these factors can help you make better choices across your operations.

Is omnichannel something your business needs for success?

The short answer is yes. That is if you’re actively selling in multiple channels.

There’s no doubt that customers today are more connected than ever before. They move seamlessly between online and offline channels, often using multiple devices to research and purchase products or services. As a result, businesses need to adopt an omnichannel marketing approach to keep up.

Omnichannel marketing provides a seamless experience for customers, no matter how they choose to engage with your brand. This means consistent messaging and branding across all channels to make it easy for customers to move between them.

However, it’s important to note that not all businesses will need to adopt an omnichannel approach. In some cases, a single-channel approach may be sufficient.

Omnichannel order management for retailers

Omnichannel retail management is not a new concept, but it has become more important in recent years as shoppers have become more comfortable shopping online and using mobile devices.

To compete with pure-play online retailers, brick-and-mortar need as stress-free store fulfillment as their online counterparts.

The benefit of an omnichannel strategy is evident for both retail businesses and shoppers. For retailers, it can help to increase sales, inventory visibility, and customer loyalty. For shoppers, it provides a more convenient and seamless shopping experience.

However, retailers’ order management for the omnichannel approach is not without its challenges.

It can be difficult and expensive for retailers to implement, and it requires a high level of coordination between various departments within the company.

Despite the challenges, omnichannel retail is something that many retailers are striving for. To stay competitive in today’s market, brick-and-mortar stores need to find ways to offer a similar level of convenience and customer service as their online counterparts.

Omnichannel order management for manufacturers

Many manufacturing businesses choose to distribute and sell their own goods, which adds another layer of complexity to their omnichannel order management.

This means tracking inventory back to the raw material or component stage, monitoring a product’s entire lifecycle, and following it through the production stages before it even hits the stores. Starting from manufacturing gives businesses the flexibility to change their processes faster, as they have live insights into product popularity and customer trends and can quickly react to delays and obstacles.

While a large part of omnichannel order management is similar for both manufacturers and resellers, there are a few specifics that manufacturers should keep in mind.

Supply chain management

As mentioned, for manufacturers, the supply chain doesn’t start with the procurement of goods but with getting the necessary supplies for production. This requires an elaborate system that centralizes raw material, work-in-process, and finished goods inventory management.

Also, potentially having multiple suppliers creates a need to gather all the data on one platform where it’s accessible and visible to all required participants. It allows for more open communications, enables faster responses to changes, and empowers transparency across teams.

Regulations and standards

Some products have special requirements for preservation and shipment.

Imagine having a whole business that produces dairy-free ice cream and transporting it in a regular van in good old cardboard boxes. At the end of the day, it’s your brand that’s damaged when customers aren’t satisfied with their product.

That’s why many manufacturers prefer to sell and transport their goods on their own terms. In plenty of industries, the storage and transportation requirements are extremely specific and need to follow international standards.

Scalability

As sales numbers grow, so will the production level, and your omnichannel order management strategy needs to keep up.

Being flexible in your production, inventory, and sales management, in turn, allows you to expand your operations across new channels and geographic locations or even try out new products. Flexibility also means keeping up with customer trends and adapting to market changes promptly.

Production planning

The biggest difference in omnichannel order management for manufacturers is obviously the whole production side. It involves multiple aspects of business that all should be considered in the production process.

• Planning and forecasting — Having immediate access to accurate data about sales gives manufacturers the necessary insight into which products are popular, what customers prefer, and how to plan their future operations
• Order prioritization — Knowing the customers’ preferences allows production to focus on the most profitable goods and categories, this is also known as the 80/20 inventory rule 
• Quality control — Customers associate their products with the manufacturer, not the reseller, so for brand reputation, it’s crucial to ensure the best possible quality in your products
• Customization — Various sales channels attract different markets and target audiences, which could mean anything from personalized goods to custom packaging

Having a solution that brings together production management, inventory, and sales is essential for effective and smooth workflows. This means adopting software that either offers all these features or allows the integration of multiple solutions into one platform.

Katana omnichannel order management system

Katana is an all-in-one platform that empowers businesses to control their entire operations, from sales to production and inventory management.

If you’re in a retail or manufacturing business, you understand the challenges of managing all its different aspects. Katana allows users to automate their day-to-day activities and gain access to live data, all of which can be used to make better business decisions on the fly. Katana also comes equipped with essential features for an omnichannel order management strategy.

Multichannel inventory management

Katana gives users complete inventory visibility across all their sales channels — ensuring they never miss a deadline again.

Regardless of where your stock is located, Katana helps you keep track of inventory movement in real-time, so you know exactly what you have on hand, what’s committed, and when raw materials are due to arrive. Implement barcode inventory management to optimize and streamline receiving and counting stock. Katana also integrates with e-commerce platforms, so you can centralize inventory management and execute your omnichannel strategy, for example:

• Shopify order management system
• WooCommerce inventory management plugin
• BigCommerce inventory management
• And more integrations, connected natively, third-party, or via the Katana API

Order management solutions

From purchase order management to managing manufacturing and sales orders — Katana centralizes your order management on one easy-to-understand platform.

Katana, as an omnichannel order management solution, allows you to see the status of all orders from one screen. This enables tracking purchases and data of customers, regardless of the sales channels they use. Having all this information a button away can improve customer experience and helps handle returns or client queries across different channels.

Digitalized picking and packing

Minimize your paperwork with barcode scanning on your shop floor for easier and cleaner picking and packing tasks.

Omnichannel order management features such as barcode scanning will make finding and identifying your item variants more efficient. You can use different types of barcodes to track items anywhere in your supply chain or business. You can use Katana’s barcode features for:

• Performing stocktakes during audits
• Receiving deliveries
• Generating your own barcodes for internal use
• Managing raw material inventory on the shop floor
• Assigning batch numbers to items

And there you have it — everything you need to understand about omnichannel order management and how to implement the strategy into your business.

If you’re interested in joining forces with Katana to take your processes to the next level, talk with us by booking a demo. See firsthand why thousands of businesses entrust Katana with their business and operations management.

Until then, check out a short tour of how Katana works and what it can do.